Manjula Shetye was beaten up 15 days before murder by jailor, staff, says Mumbai inmate

An inmate claimed that the attack on Shetye left her right eye and cheek swollen.

A file photo of some of the accused taken to the court in Mumbai.(Kunal Patil/HT Photo)

An inmate who lodged a complaint with the Nagpada police station said Manjula Shetye was beaten up by jailor Manisha Pokharkar and her staff — 15 days before her death .

A day after Shetye’s death, the Nagpada police registered a case against the six jail staff after recording the statement of 27-year-old inmate Mariyum Shaikh on June 24.

Shaikh in her first statement narrated the incident how Shetye was assaulted by the six women. She alleged that they had thrashed her to death because she complained about fewer eggs and pieces of bread for other inmates.

Shaikh has claimed that on June 23, after the roll call, the five jail constables headed by jailor Manisha Pokharkar dragged Shetye and assaulted her. She claimed that they inserted a stick into Shetye’s private parts.

The jail staff, she said, threatened all inmates to not help Shetye.

It was only in the evening that inmates helped when she sought their help to visit the bathroom. When they took her to the bathroom she collapsed ther.

“Her condition also worsened and she was referred to a doctor in the jail late in the evening,” said Shaikh.

She, in her subsequent statement recorded on August 5, said that this was not for the first time Shetye was targeted. Shaikh said that Shetye was assaulted by the staff on June 13. She claimed the attack left her right eye and cheek swollen.

Shetye, who was a warden in the jail, was serving life imprisonment for murdering her sister-in-law Vidya. Her mother Godavari too had been convicted but had died. Shetye and Godavari were convicted and sentenced by a sessions court, a ruling which was upheld by the Bombay high court on October 8, 2009. Shetye was lodged in Yerwada jail and later moved to Byculla.